Displaced

Chapter 90

"Grandfather. This has to be him," Sofie said, voicing the thoughts of everybody in the room.

"What does it mean by bubble?" Gabby wondered.

"The blister that swallowed the stone, probably," Blake said, pointing at the translucent pocket of crimson liquid poking out about an inch from the rest of the fleshy arm wrapping.

"But how do you follow it?" Gabby asked.

"I think it's the stone," Blake explained, indicating the stone floating inside the blister. As he spoke, it could be seen pressed against the blister's membrane on one side, about a third of the way up the hemisphere. Carefully grabbing the dead child's hand, he lifted the arm up and turned it this way and that. "Yeah, look. See how it points in the same direction no matter which way you orient it?"

"How strange," Sofie commented.

"Which direction is it pointing?" Sam inquired.

Blake called forth his mental map of the fortress. The room in which they stood was located on the 4th floor, near the center of the fortress. Given the direction of the door, and the way they were standing in the room-

"North," Arlette said easily. "It points north."

"Haaaahhhhh," Sofie sighed with exhaustion. "Well, time to go pack for the trip..."

"Trip?" Gabby asked, confused. "You want to follow some creepy instructions made out of blood vessels from somebody you've never met? Even with how worn down you are?"

"Yes?"

"Let's at least wait until we've rested and leave tomorrow morning," Arlette suggested.

"No, I can't rest without some sort of closure. I've been trying, but I just can't. Let's just go now. Besides, I want to meet the mythical man who shaped Pari's life so much. He deserves to know what happened." Sofie turned to Blake, her eyes daring him to oppose this sudden new itinerary. "Unless you still want to try to experiment on her?"

Blake couldn't help but scoff. "You think I'm going to pass up a chance to meet the man who made this?!" he asked in disbelief, waving his hand towards the pulsating covering. "This is living technology! This is science fiction story stuff! What's the point of studying Pari when this person could surely explain it all to me in under five minutes?

"Besides, anybody who can definitely create other powerful and dangerous things, like poison gas or maybe even viral agents. I don't like the idea of somebody hiding in the shadows when they might be able to make weapons of mass destruction. Why has nobody heard of anything like this before? Why hasn't 'grandfather' conquered the world already? I need answers to this shit, pronto."

"Oh. Well then..."

"Everyone get ready," Blake declared. "We're leaving as soon as possible."

"Hey Blake, stay here for a second, would you?" Sofie asked as everybody else, including Blake, made to leave the room.

Blake paused for a moment, thought about it, and decided to stick around for a moment to see what she wanted.

Sofie turned to face him with an angry scowl, her hands at her hips, causing Blake to immediately regret his choice. He knew this look and this pose, having seen it far too many times. He'd done something wrong, or at least something she viewed as wrong, and how he was going to get scolded for it like he was an elementary school student sent to the principal's office. The only question was what had gotten her so irate this time.

"Did you really laugh at Samanta while she was grieving?" she inquired, though her tone made it sound far more like an accusation than a question.

"Oh, here we go," Blake groused back. "Does she have you on speed dial or something? It's like she tells you every single thing I do."